


Under the moonlight

by Merliquin



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bittersweet, Ficlet, Fluff, Human Castiel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-03-08
Packaged: 2017-12-04 17:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merliquin/pseuds/Merliquin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There are nights when Dean wakes to an empty bed."  A little vignette of Dean and Cas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the moonlight

On nights when the moon is brightest, when pale light slips through curtains and illuminates the tousled sheets, Dean wakes to an empty bed. The first times he woke alone had been nerve-wracking, his mind flying to terrible places and his heart cramping frantically in his chest. Even now, years in, there is still that brief moment of panic before his heart calms and he remembers. Brushing sleep from his eyes, he grabs the worn grey robe and pads down the stairs to where the back door has been left open, because Castiel tended to forget such things. Dean steps through the devils trap painted on the floor, years of training and habit causing him to check for broken lines, before settling down on the porch steps and looking out into the yard. There he sees his once-angel, standing silently in the middle of the lawn, face upturned to the sky, eyes closed and with an expression on his face that Dean can never read.

Dean wonders, as he does every night this happens, what Castiel thinks about when he stands bare footed in the damp grass. If he turns his face toward Heaven because he still hopes, faintly, that he might hear from his brothers again. Because, as Dean knows well, your family might be dicks, but they are still family. And as much as Dean likes to pretend it isn’t so, there are some longings even he can’t satisfy.

Beneath the gentle wash of moonlight Castiel stays like that for minutes or hours until his eyes flutter open and he notices that Dean has been watching. He looks to Dean then, tilting his head as if in puzzlement, giving Dean the stare that even now feels as though Castiel can see deep into his soul. Finally a smile breaks across Castiel’s face, small and quiet but so full of pure love that every time Dean sees it he still has to look away. His vision blurs and he quickly swipes the offending tears from his eyes. He will never fully understand it, why the angel purposefully fell, would deliberately spend the rest of his life bound to earth for Dean’s sake. But before he can look up again, Castiel is at his side, a hand on his shoulder and a “hello Dean” on his lips.

A thousand questions run through Dean’s head but, like every night, Dean doesn’t ask any of them, only returns Castiel’s smiles with one of his own before whispering, “ Dammit Cas. Some of us need to sleep.” The quiet smile on Castiel’s face breaks into a grin as he takes Dean’s hand into his own. “My apologies.” He murmurs and pulls Dean back inside, back over the Devil’s trap and up the stairs to their bedroom, where they fill the empty sheets and fall asleep under the watchful moon.


End file.
